It has been a very tough week here in China if you are a fan of the environment and more specifically birds.
I am quite new to China, but my passion for conservation and my love of birds and insects is not new at all.
When I arrived in Beijing I reached out to conservationist Terry Townsend from birdingbeijing.com. He let me join an online group of local birders and conservationists. Since I, of course, don't speak or read Chinese, this has been a great source of news about birds coming from very knowledgeable people.
Earlier this week I found out that the once plentiful Yellow-breasted Bunting has now been listed as critically endangered. That is sad.
The main reason for this birds almost demise has been the fact that it has been hunted for food in parts of China. It is actually illegal to hunt wild birds in China. You can only catch them for scientific purposes. Sadly these are very social birds and migrate in large numbers. This makes it easy for poachers to catch them in large numbers in illegal mist nets and then sell them for food.
According to a post on Terry Townsends Birding Beijing site today, some keen-eyed birders spotted an advertisement for live ones being sold on Tao Bao. Tao Bao is China's answer to Amazon. You can buy live ones for the equivalent of about $40 CND. The link to the site is live as I post this blog entry.
Hopefully, word will get out and Tao Bao will stop allowing wildlife to be sold on their site.
Again, for a more informed look at this check out the post on Terry's site!
Since I started the Canadian International School of Beijing Nature and Conservation Club in order to teach children about protecting nature and animals in need of help. I will definitely be talking to them about this topic next week. Hopefully, they can then generate discussions about it with their families and friends.
I applaud Terry and the amazing group of conservationists here in China working so hard to help birds like the Yellow-breasted Bunting.
The writer:
Kevin O'Shea is an IB/PYP educator at a major international school in Beijing, China. He has lived in South Korea as well as Japan. He is the host of the Just Japan Podcast, an avid nature photographer and nature educator. He recently started the Canadian International School of Beijing Nature and Conservation Club in order to teach children about protecting the environment and helping animals at risk.
Follow him on Twitter (Main account): @jlandkev
Twitter (educator account): @MadForMaple
Kevin O'Shea is an IB/PYP educator at a major international school in Beijing, China. He has lived in South Korea as well as Japan. He is the host of the Just Japan Podcast, an avid nature photographer and nature educator. He recently started the Canadian International School of Beijing Nature and Conservation Club in order to teach children about protecting the environment and helping animals at risk.
Follow him on Twitter (Main account): @jlandkev
Twitter (educator account): @MadForMaple
JustWildlife (facebook.com/justwildlife) – nature and more
YouTube: BusanKevin / BeijingKevin
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